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Still A Little Ways Down The Road

Admittedly, I am not someone who makes a habit of watching the annual SONA. I don’t think I’ve ever made an effort to watch one straight, apart from this year. The usual “state of the nation” paints quite a bleak picture, and I can’t find it in me to sit through the long reports about the corruption, widespread poverty, and directionless development that our country is branded with.

But this year, I found myself eagerly anticipating whatever it was that President Aquino would have to tell us. I felt more involved personally than I ever had before, and I probably have my education at the School of Economics to thank for this. The past year of learning about society and its people definitely made me less apathetic towards events like the SONA.

P-Noy had some very uplifting statistics in his speech. In fact, it seems like he had nothing but good numbers to update us with. Most people are already familiar with the 7.8% increase in GDP we had last quarter, the record high 4.3 million tourists that visited in 2012, and the many classrooms and school supplies to be added in our public schools. P-Noy seems to be making improvements in all factions of our country. Though it’s sometimes hard to appreciate hard numbers like these, I definitely do not take these things lightly. I appreciate all the good that P-Noy has been able to accomplish. I can see from his term so far that he is genuinely trying to bring about positive change, and it’s refreshing to have a leader that is thinking long term in terms of our country’s welfare.

All this good news, though, is only the start of the road for us. Just because we’ve hit a couple of record highs, I don’t think it’s time to celebrate just yet. P-Noy has paved the way for proper development, but it’s still going to take a lot of discipline and diligence from our people to keep this good pace going. All is not well yet, and it will still take years before the effects of these improvements will be felt by the people who need it most, if at all. But, again, I do not think any less of the great work that P-Noy has done throughout the years. All I know is that true development is going to take some great patience, and contributions from all of us Filipinos.

Still, I am very glad to have paid attention to the SONA this year. In the past, I would practically brush off such things as if there was nothing that could truly be done about the matter. But now, I see that there is much hope indeed. Moreover, for the first time, I feel like I am someone who can actually help bring about that positive change, some day in the future. Hopefully.

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One thought on “Still A Little Ways Down The Road”

I just shifted to Economics this year and I get what you’re trying to say. Being with the Economics people and being more informed about how everything in our economy works made me more aware of our country’s growth and progress. And I agree that PNoy really presented uplifting statistics and I hope that along with those statistics is that feeling that we really are progressing. We really are only just beginning and that we don’t really need to get cocky yet. We have a long way to go and not only the government needs to move but we citizens as well.